Transcript Migration is the New Missions Internal Changes in Global Christianity Dyron Daughrity Pepperdine University Malibu California.

Migration is the New Missions
Internal Changes in Global Christianity
Dyron Daughrity
Pepperdine University
Malibu California
An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.
“Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and
escape to Egypt.”
--Matthew 2:13
migrants: the new missionaries
• The new missionaries
– guest workers, students, laborers, asylum seekers,
family reunification, political refugees
• The old missionaries
– Europeans fanned out to all corners of the world
to preach
– This was the Great European Migration
The great European migration
• 15th to 20th century
• Why did they go?
– Under compulsion, refugees, indentured laborers,
conditions of employment, soldiers, officials,
attain wealth, or simply seeking a better life.
– Many went for religious reasons.
– Europe began its consolidation of much of the
world, redrawing the world’s maps, enjoying the
fruit of vast resources.
– In the 20th century, the great European migration
came to a halt and went into reverse.
Migration in reverse
• 20th century:
– The Europeans came home
– Those in the former colonies began moving to
Europe
• Where does religion fit in?
– Christianity began its decline in Europe while
many former colonies embraced it
enthusiastically.
Short term missions
• The idea of a long-term missionary from
Europe or North America who goes abroad to
preach for the rest of his/her life is basically
over.
– Many of them carried their belongings in a casket.
• The new Western approach to missions is
short-term: usually 1-2 weeks of service.
Short term missions
• USA: about 1.4 million Americans take short
term mission trips each year
– Teen Missions International: 40,000 annually
– Southern Baptists: 150,000 annually
– United Methodists: 100,000 annually
– YWAM (Youth with a mission)
– Since 2000, around 12 percent of American high
school students went overseas on a mission trip.
“God’s New Whiz Kids”
• Asian Christians, especially South Koreans, have
their sites set on the USA in order to missionize.
– 80% of Evangelicals at UCLA and UC Berkeley are Asian
– 70% of Harvard’s Radcliffe Christian Fellowship are
Asian.
– Yale’s Campus Crusade for Christ is 90% Asian
• only 20 years ago it was 100% white
– Stanford’s InterVarsity Christian Fellowship nearly
entirely Asian.
– In only 15 years, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship saw its
Asian American numbers grow by 267 percent.
In the year 2000, there were 33,000 foreign
missionaries stationed in the United States.
Fortress Europe
• Ceuta and Melilla (Spain) receive hundreds
who scale their fences.
– On 19 March 2014, 500 migrants scaled the fence
in order to obtain asylum.
• Island of Lampedusa, Italy: immigrants were
up 300 percent between 2013 and 2014.
• Africans can gain 30 years of life if they can get
to European shores.
– For most, it is easily worth the risk.
What next?
• Once in the West, the natural point of entry is
through ethno-religious community.
• Churches meet the needs of the immigrant
like few others.
• Reactions against immigrants can be harsh,
even in a progressive society like Switzerland,
where one in four are immigrants.
Latinos head to USA
• The immigrant goes to the USA with faith as
his/her “hand baggage.”
• They go to the USA for life, like the old
missionary model.
• Often illegal, or under a fuzzy umbrella label
such as “undocumented worker.”
dramatic changes in U.S. demography
• In 1970, one million Mexicans in USA
• Today: 35 million (11-12% of population)
people of Mexican origin live in the USA.
• In 2014, Latinos surpassed whites as largest
racial group in California.
• Texas—America’s second-most populated
state—will be next.
• Latinos passed Black Americans as largest
ethnic minority in 2003.
Latino missionaries
• Brazilian “God is Love” denomination
(Pentecostal): has planted churches in 136
countries.
• IURD (Universal Church): 5000 churches in
Brazil, and 1000 churches in 96 countries.
– “No Christian denomination founded in the Third
World has ever been exported so successfully and so
rapidly.” (P. Freston)
Conclusion
• Over 200 million migrants today (3% of world
population)
• About half of them are Christians
• Nations that send out the most migrants:
– Mexico, India, Russia
• Nations that receive the most migrants:
– USA, Russia, Germany
• These people bring their faith with them as “hand
baggage.”
today’s missionary
• Teenager or young college student on spring
break, visiting an orphanage.
• Nigerian on a student visa.
• Filipino domestic worker.
• Mexican field worker.
What about non-Christians migrants?
• Interesting things happen:
– 44% of all Asian Americans are Christians
• Remarkable because only 10% of Asians are Christian.
– When Asians migrate to America, they often
become Christian.
I was an immigrant and you invited me in, I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick
and you looked after me, I was in prison and you
came to visit me.
– Jesus in Mt. 25:35-36